Saudi Youth Engagement with Vision 2030 Digital Content: The Roles of Content Preferences and Overall Evaluation

Young Saudis follow Vision 2030 mainly through social media, yet research has examined the characteristics of this content separately and has rarely asked how audiences’ overall evaluation links what they prefer to how they engage. Grounded in the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM), this study examines how preferences for message style, source type, and content format relate to Saudi youths’ engagement with Vision 2030 digital content and whether their overall evaluation mediates this association. A quantitative cross-sectional survey was conducted among 551 Saudi youths aged 18–35, and the data were analyzed using factor analysis, regression, and mediation analysis. Message style preference was significantly associated with engagement, with rational style showing a slightly stronger association than emotional and narrative styles. Overall evaluation was the strongest correlate of engagement and partially mediated the association between message style preference and engagement. Confirmatory factor analysis supported treating evaluation and engagement as distinct but closely related constructs. By contrast, source type preference was not associated with engagement, and content format preference showed only a slight association, with short-form video slightly ahead of images. These findings suggest that the engagement of Saudi youth is tied more closely to the quality, credibility, and persuasive substance of Vision 2030 content than to the identity of the source or the content format. This study applies the ELM to national strategic communication in a non-Western context and offers guidance for communicators seeking to strengthen youth engagement with national development initiatives.